


Checkmate

by honeycoveswrite



Category: Chicago PD (TV), One Chicago
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Hurt Jay Halstead, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Jay Halstead Whump, Kidnapping, One Chicago (Chicago Franchise), Other, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Siblings, Recovery, Serious Injuries, Whump, Worried Jay Halstead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25254166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeycoveswrite/pseuds/honeycoveswrite
Summary: Jay Halstead has always had his duck in a row. He was one to never leave any stone to unturned, but after his life was flipped upside down two and a half years ago when his daughter, Charlee Halstead, showed up at his doorstep. Jay is slowly starting to realize there is more to life than putting on the badge every single day.One day when his little girl goes missing, it's all hands on deck to find her before her birth mother does. And worse, he's dragged his childhood best friend, Mallory Johnson, into the middle of the investigation. With everyone's life on the line...someone might not make it out alive.
Relationships: Jay Halstead & Original Female Character(s), Jay Halstead/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 33





	1. Prologue

A bag of frozen peas. 

A bag of freaking frozen peas is what Mallory Johnson threw across the island table towards Jay Halstead’s face. He dodged the bag, catching it in one hand before it landed on the floor with tiny little green dots scattering across it. It wasn’t like the nasty bruising underneath his left eye didn’t need a twin under his right one. Or for him to even pretend why Mallory had thrown the bag at him instead of handing it to him. He knew far too well the reason was he made a promise to his childhood best friend that he wouldn’t show up battered and bruised whenever she was coming over. 

So much for that. 

Jay was not one for breaking promises, but he also wasn’t expecting to get punched in the face while working today. Mallory gave him exactly a three-second warning that she was in their condo waiting with beer and pizza for the one night in which---and he quote--- “let me complain about everything and don’t say a single word, please for the love of everything.” 

“This?” Jay held up the bag, waiting for Mallory to acknowledge that she could’ve Mallory while she started to close his freezer door. “This is all I have in there?” 

She crossed her arms and gave him that look. That one single damn look of Mallory daring him to say one word about how he never kept a cold pack in there. Especially with his job. “You don’t have anything in there that would even help.” 

“Not even ice? Ice would be nice,” he mumbled, jumped off the barstool, making his way towards the couch. Jay didn’t want Mallory grilling about what happened while he was on the job. He just wanted to rest for once---and not at Molly’s either. He wanted to eat pizza, drink beer, and listen to her complain. 

“Ice isn’t going to fix that, ya know. Even if it would, you don’t deserve ice.” Mallory drew her knees to her chest, resting her chin against them. Her hair falling across her shoulder and blocking out the painful look hidden in her eyes. 

“That’s cold, even for you.” 

“Shouldn’t have got smacked around today.” 

Mallory watched the way the blue faded into black around the corner of Jay’s left eye. Part of her wanted to deck him in the other eye, make him realize just how careless he could be from time to time with his job. How the worry he managed to put his best friend through was too much stress. Where the only thing Mallory should’ve been worried about was a five-year-old sticking a crayon up their nose. Not that Jay might not make it back home one night. 

There were many things Addy knew about Tyler’s job. It wasn’t like it was a kept secret between the two of them. But there were also a handful of things she knew she would never be told or understand about his job. Addy had learned from an early age to not ask questions that she didn’t want answers to and vise versa. 

“Staring at me isn’t going to make it go away any faster.” Jay leaned his head against the back of the couch. The pizza was tempting him to throw his ice pack across the room and grab a slice. “Frozen peas isn’t going to work either.” 

Growing up together, Mallory knew the ins and outs of the Halstead household. How Jay and his dad never saw eye to eye or the fact that he favored his mom a little more. The way he threw a curveball when pitching, but refused to play after high school. She knew Jay enlisted in hopes of trying to get on his dad’s good side, but it only made things worse. Mallory held her breath when Jay finally returned and joined the police force. 

It didn’t make things complicated between them. Mallory would stand beside him no matter what---and sometimes that was the problem. 

“Neither is not placing it on your face, Jay.” 

Jay sucked in a breath when Mallory placed her hand over his and pressed the bag closer to his eye. Jay didn’t have the energy to count the amount of times Mallory was there to patch him up over the years. From when they were just kids on the playground to now. 

She was there beside him through thick and thin. Covering for him when his parents thought he had been out partying in their junior year of high school. Breaking up random bar fights before he enlisted. Becoming his roommate for a short time once he moved back to Chicago, and once again, when she needed a roommate after getting a teaching job. It never failed that wherever Jay turned around, Mallory was right there. She was always waiting to catch him time and time again before he slipped too far. In some ways, Mallory was kind of like his mom made over. He knew it the moment they became friends back in middle school. She had a bigger heart than anyone he ever knew, and Jay loved her for it. 

“Gonna tell me how this happened?” She asked, jabbing her finger into the side of his shoulder a couple of times. Hoping that maybe it would cause him just as much pain as it did seeing him with a black eye. 

Jay’s lips turned downwards as he shrugged. “Line of duty.”

“Line of duty, my ass,” she smacked him on his shoulder. Her dark brown hair fell to the side of her head while she shook her head at him. “Line of duty is getting shot, or---ya know, not getting shot or coming home with a black eye. Which you’ve managed to not have both happen this year.” 

Jay winced at the words. He had heard them way too many times to keep up with. Not just from Mallory, but from his brother, his sergeant, and his team. But it was Mallory’s words who kept replaying in the back of his mind. Big heart and a big worrier. She had been that way since he met her. That was never going to change at all. It didn’t matter how many times Jay would reassure that he was fine, or it was nothing more than little scratch. Mallory wouldn’t take his word until she saw he was safe. 

“Is that my sweatshirt?” 

Mallory glanced down at the faded navy Chicago Cubs sweatshirt she threw on after she came home from work that night. Of course, it belonged to Jay. And no way in hell was she was going to admit that she had managed to steal another one of his shirts while he was working a night shift a couple of weeks ago. 

Nope, that was not going to happen. She wasn’t going to make Jay understand how it made her more comfortable staying in the condo they shared when he wasn’t there. As if it was Mallory’s way of making sense to all the random noises outside their building. Jay still hadn’t budged on bringing in a dog into the mix, for he was paying a majority of the rent, but Mallory knew eventually she would sneak one in someday. 

“Last time I checked,” she moved her hands into the sleeve to warm her frozen fingers, “finders keepers, losers weepers---and you are a weeper, Jay Halstead.” 

“Don’t go quoting it to me, Mal,” he smirked, shaking his head before he reached for the beer sitting on the coffee table. God bless, Mallory, for at least having the beer on the table before he got home. 

“Maybe if you did your laundry instead of leaving it for me to take care of, then your clothes would still be in your closet,” she shrugged, pushing her bun back on top of her head. “Plus, you’re almost thirty-three and still getting in fights with the bad guys.” 

Jay barked, almost spilling his beer onto the couch. “Getting in fights with bad guys is putting them way away. You know this.” 

Mallory pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth, gnawing on it while she glanced at him. Jay had seen the look in her eyes way too many times. Too many times growing up, with the little creases running across her forehead and the way her hand dropped from his to knot them up in the ends of his sweatshirt sleeves. 

She was thinking. 

She was worrying about him. 

It wasn’t often he came back to their condo with a black eye or a bloody lip. 

“Yes, but getting hurt isn’t part of the job.” Mallory’s gaze settled on the Chicago skyline. The bright lights of other high rises, taking her mind of where the conversation was going. 

“Mallory,” he tossed the bag of peas onto the coffee table, reached for her bottle to hand it to her. “You and I both know what this job entitles.”

“Doesn’t mean I like it,” her lips pressed against the cold glass. What she would give to make Jay have any other job besides the one he had right now. 

“I know.” Jay turned his body towards her. “But you know I’m safe, everyone is safe at the end of day.” 

Mallory’s gaze flickered to Jay’s bottom lip before meeting his gaze. His knee brushing against hers in a way she was used to so many times, but this time was different. The way he glanced up at her with the intense look in his eyes. Trying to calm her down without saying much more about what happened. Knowing even one slip of the reason for his black eye and Mallory would shun him until the end of the week. 

But for Mallory, it was the same day. 

Different story as always.

She knew this. 

“One of these days,” Mallory whispered just enough for Jay to hear over the soft hum of the fridge, “you’re going to get in over your head, and then what? Who’s going to save you?” 

“I’ll have you rescue me,” Jay’s lips turned into a small smile. “Like I always do, we have each oth----” 

The knock on the door echoed through their place, cutting through Jay’s words, and leaving Mallory wishing the moment wasn’t ruined between them yet again. The knock came again, and they whipped their heads around towards the front door. Mallory raised one of her eyebrows in a way that made Jay roll his eyes. 

“You expecting someone?” He asked, pushing himself off the couch. “Is that why you’re in my sweatshirt to keep them away?”

“You sure it’s not for you, someone to help lick those battle wounds off you,” Mallory knocked his elbow with hers. “We both know that’s what you do, right? You find someone to help ease the pain.”

“Only cause you’re a pain in my ass most of the time.” 

The knock turned into pounding the closer they got the door. If Mallory didn’t know better she would’ve guessed it was someone who had the wrong address. Jay put his hand up, almost forcing Mallory to stand behind the corner of the hallway between their bedrooms and their front. Not that she wouldn’t have stood there on her own without Jay being all protective. At least someone had her back if it was someone she didn’t like. Not likely, but still nice to know. 

“Open the damn door, Jay.” 

Mallory’s eyes went wide as she took a step out from behind the wall. Tyler glanced back at her, worry lines creasing across his forehead and his Adam’s apple bobbing while he swallowed. Both of them knew the sound of that voice better than they knew each other’s after all these years. Mallory didn’t want to believe who she thought it was, but there was no way in hell she was going to stand behind the wall now. 

“Jay, open the fucking door.” 

Not with Savannah on the other side of that door. Jay was going to need more backup than just her beside him if he wanted to make this little altercation out alive. 

Jay focused his gaze on the door handle, the knocking becoming more fierce on the other side. 

“Just open it before she makes more of a scene, please,” Mallory poked him in the back. “We both don’t want to deal with her, but---please.” 

The last thing Jay wanted to do was open the door to Savannah Perkins standing on the other side. The real thorn in his side that seemed to never go away no matter how hard he tried. He almost made Mallory promise him to move out of this condo into a different one just so Savannah wouldn’t know where they lived. He almost did it, too, but eventually, Savannah stopped trying to come, and Jay put it out of his mind. 

“Maybe she’ll go away,” Jay glanced back at her with pleading eyes. The kind that were asking her to deal with Savannah instead of him. 

“Open it already,” Mallory pleaded, balancing herself against the wall. She mentally counted along with Jay’s movements as he turned the doorknob. 

One...before an explosion of Savannah hit their lives again. 

Two...maybe she got tired of knocking and decided to leave. Maybe Jay wouldn’t open the door. 

Three...Jay swung the door open, blocking Mallory’s view from everything. 

“About damn time.” Savannah greeted him with a smirk before shoving a baby into his hands. “Listen.”

Nothing good came from when Savannah started a conversation with listen. Mallory took a step around Jay to lean against the other wall. With a direct view to the doorway, she saw a baby carrier dangling from her arm. 

“She’s yours.”

“What?” Jay and Mallory said at the same time, causing Savannah to glare towards Mallory before turning her attention back to Jay. 

“She’s been yours for the last six months. I don’t want her, all the paperwork to sign her over to you is in this bag.” She shoved a baby bag onto Jay’s right shoulder. “I know this isn’t how this works, but I don’t know what else to do. I just can’t put into her foster care knowing she’s yours. I know you’ll try to find her. But she’s no longer mine as of right now.”

“Savannah,” Jay’s voice echoed down the hall. He felt Mallory’s hand reach for the baby and the bag, and nudge him with her shoulder out the door. 

“Go, I’ll keep this one calm for now,” she smiled in hopes that maybe Jay would catch on to keep his cool. 

“Savannah, wait.” 

Jay stood there as she curled her hands into fist and turned to face him. She was still the same Savannah with the fiery red hair and deep green eyes. The same person he had fallen in love with four years ago and called it off almost a year and a half ago, after he found out she had been cheating on him. He would have given the world to be anything that Savannah wanted. It just wasn’t enough in the end. He had come to accepted it and moved on. 

“How do I know it’s mine?” The words leaving his mouth before he realized what he had asked. 

Savannah laughed. The kind of laugh he heard people who thought he was lying while undercover. The same one that made Jay want to punch a wall. “You mean, how do I know she isn’t Sam’s?” He winced at those words. “Believe me, Jay, if it was Sam’s, this whole thing would be so much better. But she isn’t his, okay?” 

“And I’m just supposed to believe that?” 

“Yeah, you are,” she crossed her arms. Jay stood a little taller at her words. There was no way he could let Savannah just walk away like this after dumping a baby into his life. “His paternity test is in with those papers, believe me, he wanted a test too. It’s not his and that leaves only one person within the last two years.” 

“Lawyers, Savannah. It needs to go through court and be done right.” 

“It needs to be done right for you,” Savannah tossed back at him. “It needs to be done to Jay’s standards or else it’s not good enough. I signed over my parental rights and like I said earlier, all the paperwork is there.” 

“Savannah---” The elevator door dinged open and Jay watched her step in. 

Then she was gone again. 

Savannah had dropped a six-month-old baby off at his door, claimed it was his and then left. Jay stood there, listening to the elevator descend to the ground floor. He needed his feet to agree with him to move towards the stairs. Take them two at the time and stop her before she had the chance to leave him with a baby that possibly wasn’t even his. His mind was running with every possibility of how it could not be his. The legal system would want to take charge on how to go about getting parental rights being signed over. There was no way she could do it without telling him first. 

“Dammit,” Jay kicked the elevator door. “Dammit, Savannah.” 

Just like that, everything he had ever known was now flipped upside down on its head. 

“Jay,” Mallory spoke softly, pulling him back to reality as he turned to her face. The baby played with a lock of her loose hair, tugging on it before sticking it into her mouth. “For as much as I hated Savannah, which is still a lot by the way---I think she’s telling the truth.” 

“W-w-what?” He shook his head. This had to be some kind of fever dream. Maybe he did really pass out at the scene earlier and he was just now waking up. It was the only thing making sense with everything that just happened. 

“She wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble to cross her T’s and dot her I’s if she wasn’t sure,” Mallory said, handing him a piece of paper. “And she did just that.” 

“Paternity test.” Jay rubbed his hand across his forehead. Savannah was telling the truth on it not being Sam’s. For once in her life, she told the truth to him. Not when he asked if she was cheating on him or if she still loved him---but the moment it came to his child, she was truthful. 

“You’ll need to get one to make sure, but look at the paper, Jay.” 

He blinked a couple of times at Mallory before he looked down at another piece of paper.

A birth certificate. 

_**Charlotte Halstead** _

_**December 7** _

_**Savannah Perkins** _

_**Jay Halstead** _

Jay forced his gaze from the paper to Mallory and the baby, Charlotte. There was no mistaking the big blue eyes looking back at him belonged to him. The chubby cheeks that turned into a smile as Mallory spoke softly to her, and tickled her tummy. Charlotte was his and he could not deny it. 

Damn Savannah for dropping this on him. 

And damn Mallory for being right about it.

  
  



	2. Donuts & Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some good old chocolate donuts and promises that need to be kept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: First off, I want you to thank you for reading! It really means a lot to me that you are reading this story that has been brewing inside of my mind for the last couple of months. Also, it has been roughly two years from prologue when the story starts, and from here on out, everything is currently set in season 7. Some scenes will be similar, but will also be altered to fit the plot of the story.

**_2 years later_ **

Jay had grown accustomed to the sound of tiny feet padding against the hardwood floor outside his bedroom. The minute Charlee had learned to climb out of her crib, he knew he was trouble and switched her to what he and Mallory called "a big girl bed" later that day. It only took her exactly three weeks before Charlee had learned how to unlatch the bed rail and climbed out. Jay only noticed when she tried to climb into bed with him that morning. She wasn't even three yet, and Jay already has his hands full. 

And thanks to Mallory, a Goldendoodle puppy was added into the mix. 

A Goldendoodle puppy that his daughter had so properly named Woofles. Somehow trying to say waffles had turned into woofles, and neither Jay nor Mallory had looked back. 

Jay groaned, rolled over, and grabbed his phone as it lit up with 6:05 am. He was supposed to have another twenty-five minutes of glorious sleep. Precious sleep that he so desperately needed. 

But the sound of his little girl's laughter and calling their dog to follow her down the hallway towards his bedroom was enough to make him sit halfway up. It was too damn early for Charlee and Woofles to come barging into his room. Even Mallory had tried to be quiet when she had woken up earlier. 

"You promised," he groaned while tossing his phone onto Mallory's pillow. "You promised I would get sleep." 

"That girl runs on her own clock," Mallory poked her head out the bathroom. Her hair dripping wet and clinging to her neck. "You know this, I know, the whole district knows this. Hell, at this point, I'm sure the whole city knows." 

Jay opened one eye when the giggling stopped, and he held his breath before propping himself up on his elbows towards Mallory. "Think she's going back to bed." 

"Not a chance in hell." The giggling started up again as little hands landed on the bedroom door with a thud, and Jay's head fell back onto his pillow. "You didn't make it home in time for her to see you last night. And she passed out before you even got her, so you know she's gonna come barging in the second she is awake."

"Why?" Jay moaned, wishing for at least another ten minutes of sleep. 

"Cause you're her dad, she loves you, and I'm spending my whole fall break watching her after dealing twenty-seven six and seven-year-olds for the last two and a half months and tellin' them not to stick a glue stick up their nose," Mallory reminded him while throwing a scrunchie at him. 

"How can I ever repay you?" Jay smirked, batting his eyes at her in a way that made Mallory shake her head. 

"I could think of many ways, Jay Halstead." 

Before either of them had a chance, the bedroom flung open to Charlee, bouncing in with Woofles nipping at her ankles. She held her teddy bear dressed in a police officer uniform and pushed some of the curls out of her face as she stood at the side of the bed. Her chin just reaching the edge of the mattress, and she looked at Jay, who was now pretending to sleep. She tilted her head back to see Mallory standing behind her. She nodded her head at the little girl and watched as Charlee while she stood on her tippy toes and reached to poke Jay in the arm. 

"Daddy," Charlee whispered. When Jay didn't move, she tossed her teddy bear towards his face and practically yelled, "Daddy wake up!"

Jay opened his eyes slowly to see strawberry-blonde curls and bright green eyes staring back at him. Her arms reaching up for him, pleading him to pick her up and put her in be beside him. "But I don't wanna," he pouted and started to close his eyes again. "Sleep is a good thing." 

"Pwease," Charlee begged as she stretched to put her foot up on the mattress, "pwetty pwease." 

Jay scooped her up, and her giggles flooded the room as he placed Charlee on his chest. Her head resting against Jay's shoulder, her bear tucked into her side as Jay ran his hand up and down her back. Her little fingers wrapping around his shoulder the best they could and her curls scattering all over the place while she started to nuzzle her head deeper into the crook of his neck. The purple unicorn nightshirt and bright lime green pajama pants told Jay all he needed to know about how last night really went before he went home. 

Somehow for a two and a half-year-old, Charlee understood the word promise better than anyone else. And Jay had made a lot of promises over the years. But nothing compared to the promised he made his little girl the night before. That he would, in fact, be home before she went to bed last night. 

Only, he wasn't expecting the case to a take turn at 3:42 pm or the fact he got home to almost midnight. He also wasn't prepared for the voicemail from Charlee, sobbing into the phone, blabbing in which Jay deciphered to 'come home now daddy, pwease. Wuv you." 

When he finally did make it home, he found Mallory curled up in Charlee's small toddler bed, holding his daughter close to her chest. The light from the hallway showed bright red, tear-stained cheeks of his daughter and creased worry lines running across Mallory's forehead while she slept. 

"Rough night?" Jay cooed into his daughter's ear. Charlee lifted her head a little, bottom lip poking out and starting to quiver as tears filled her eyes. "Hey, hey, hey," he placed her head back down to his chest, rubbing circles on her back. Tears staining his chest as his daughter's little body trembled with a soft cry. "I'm here now, it's okay. Those monsters aren't going to get ya." 

"At this point, you shouldn't make promises to her," Mallory said, climbing onto the bed and moving Woofles to the side. "She knows more than either of us give her credit for, ya know." Her hand resting under Jay's, her thumb running up and down the small of Charlee's back. The little girl hiccuped, raised her head, and placed it back down on Jay's shoulder. 

"What happened yesterday?" Jay asked, peering over Charlee's head, giving Mallory the 'she's crying before seven am so something happened' looked. 

Mallory licked her lips, turned her attention to the little girl sitting on Jay's chest before glancing back up at him. "Nightmare when she took her afternoon nap, and the rest of the day went downhill." 

"You didn't text?"

"You were supposed to be home by 5:30, or at least I thought so." She ran her hand over her face and through her hair. "When you didn't show, she got a little irritable, passed out on the couch by seven, work up an hour and a half later bawling. Hince the voicemail, and then the only way she would sleep was if I held her." 

"I should've been here," Jay kissed the top of Charlee's head. "These nightmares are starting to take a toll on her---and you. I need to figure something out to be here at night now." 

Mallory scooted up to the front of the bed, resting her cheek against Jay's other shoulder. "It's common in toddlers, don't worry about it too much, Jay." 

"That's what Will was telling me last week when I let it slip up." He wrapped his other arm around Mallory, pulling her into his side and resting his cheek against the top of her head. "I just want to know what's going on in that little mind of hers." 

"I'll tell you," Mallory said, looking up at him with a small smile. "A girl who loves her dad way too much screams Woofles all the time, and carries around a bear twenty-four-seven, cause heaven forbid she lose it---and coloring on the walls for you to see them." 

"Again?"

"Yep, but we can talk about that tonight, 'cause you're gonna be late." Mallory lifted a sleeping Charlee off of Jay and placed her lap, and started to push Jay out of bed. 

He groaned, leaned over, and pressed a kiss to Mallory's lips before leaving a soft one on top of his daughter's head. He needed a photo of the way Charlee had fallen back asleep, and Mallory just rubbing small circles on her back. No one would ever guess that they weren't related with a first glance. 

"Tell me what your game plan is for today?" He asked, stretching before wandering over to the bathroom. 

"Donuts and chocolate milk, walk Woofles, and then Adam's Park." Mallory pushed some of Charlee's curl out of her face and turned her attention to Jay, who was leaning against the doorway now with his arms crossed. "I figured it would be a nice change for once while the weather is still nice, and she refuses to go to the zoo without you. I don't have much of a choice." 

Jay laughed, shook his head, and walked into the bathroom. "Just be careful."

"We're always careful, what do you mean?" Mallory reminded him while Jay closed the bathroom door. 

* * *

Jay didn't know what he would without Mallory most of the time. She was always by his side, but the second Charlee came into his life---Mallory stuck around when Jay wasn't sure she would. She woke up in the middle of the night when Jay had early mornings and stayed with Charlee when she has spiked over a 100-degree fever before her first birthday. 

She was there for every bad dream, every fever, every scraped knee, and bumped foreheads. She was there when Jay couldn't be. He could never make it up to Mallory for the number of times she had been there for his daughter, and him, over the years. There was no way that Mallory's love for his daughter could match anything Jay could give her. 

But it also helped that Mallory said Charlee needed a solid female figure in her life while growing up, which was easy to keep Mallory in their life. Even if Jay had brought the fact that either one of them could end up dating someone else if they wanted to while still being there for Charlee. But one night, almost a year ago, of too much drinking and exploring hidden feelings, that apparently had been there since high school, was all it took for Jay to realize that Mallory would be in his and Charlee's life for forever.

Savannah might be Charlee's biological mom, but Mallory was her real one as far as Jay was concerned. 

Three months after Charlee showed up, Jay finally got a paternity test to both Mallory and Will's liking. Even though there was no mistaken, the fair skin, freckles, and greenish-blue eyes that always looked back at him were from him. It still made everyone feel a better to know that one hundred percent Charlee was Jay's. After that, he filed for Charlee's sole custody and made sure there was no way Savannah could come back and try to take her from him. 

Charlee ended up having Jay and Mallory wrapped around her finger. Still, she had managed to get Trudy, and Hailey wrapped around her finger as well. Everyone within his unit knew he would do anything to protect his daughter and Mallory. It made some undercover cases harder when they needed to have patrol sitting outside their condo, following Mallory to school to teach and Charlee to her daycare. The last thing Jay needed or wanted was someone they had locked up coming back and doing something to the two people he cared the most about. It was his worst nightmare if that was to happen. 

"Okay, now that's adorable," Hailey pulled Jay out of his thoughts as they both looked at the photo Mallory had sent him. Charlee's mouth covered in chocolate icing while she was holding up a half-eaten donut and saying cheese with a mouth full of pastry. 

"Sometimes, I feel as if it's part of Mal's plan to put her into a sugar high when she knows I'm getting off early." Jay glanced up at his partner. "It's like she planned this and only told me when she knew I couldn't say no." 

"Oh Mallory totally does, she tells me about it. We try to figure out which ways we can make sure Charlee has all the sugar on the nights you get to put her to bed." Hailey laughed, "Give you more hell." 

Jay sighed, leaned back in his chair as he sent Mallory a quick text back. _'Don't give her too much chocolate.' "I'm_ not so sure you and Mallory becoming friends was a good thing for me or bad." 

"Oh, it's good, very good," Hailey said, patting him on the shoulder before she walked off. 

Jay's phone dinged as he pushed him from his chair, a small laugh while reading the text from Mallory. 'She's _just gonna run it off at the park anyways.'_

 _That's what you always say._ He sent back, knowing that somehow Mallory was right and he would more than likely come to home a crashed out Charlee and Mallory. 

"Sarge has a case he wants us to check out, thinks it might take a little bit," Hailey popped her head back into the office, "I told him we would head out soon." 

"Yeah, yeah," Jay nodded, holding up his phone, "I'm gonna make a call first." 

Jay dialed Mallory's number, pacing back and forth in front of his desk. He wasn't sure why he was calling. He never called in the middle of the day unless he knew he would be late, but even then it was nothing more than a text. He couldn’t shake the feeling of something tugging at his emotions about his daughter. Maybe it was that whole parents can feel when something isn't right, Jay didn't know. 

Mallory picked up after the fourth ring. "Hey," she sounded out of breath and panting into the phone. 

"Everything alright?" Jay asked, the ping of worry growing in his gut as he listed to Mallory try to catch her. 

"Yeah," she swallowed, "sorry, Charlee thought it would be a good idea to let Woofles run down the hallway---and let me tell ya, that dog is fast." 

Jay chuckled and tried not to shake his head at the mental image of Mallory running down the hall and Charlee yelling at her to get Woofles back. "I wonder why she did that?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe cause someone said it would be a good idea to do," Mallory said in a snippy response. 

"I was kidding, I didn't think she would take me seriously." He didn't have to be in front of her to know Mallory had one hand on her hip and tapping her foot. "Where is the little trouble maker, anyways?" 

"Currently rolling across the living room, trying to smash Woofles in the process." 

There was no doubt in Jay's mind that Charlee was one hundred and ten percent his daughter. 

"Let me talk to her." 

"Char bear," he heard Mallory's voice say her nickname and the sound of feet against the hardwood floor ending with an off coming from Mallory. "Your daddy wants to talk to you." 

Lots of air blowing into the mic and into Jay's ear before he heard his little girl's voice. "Daddy!" 

"Are you being good?" He asked, standing up and finally putting his jacket on. 

"Good good," Charlee squealed into the phone, "Woofles good." 

"Are you going to listen to Mallory when you go to the park today?" He started walking down the stairs of the district, Trudy gave him look as he mouther Charlee, before heading out the front door. 

"Mhm," Charlee replied, blowing more air into the phone. 

"If you listen, maybe we can watch Trolls tonight and eat some M&M's." 

"Pwomise." 

There was that word again. A word that held so much hope to an almost-three-year-old that she was starting to use it all the time. Before Jay had a real chance to weigh his option of whatever lead Voight was sending them on and before Mallory could tell him not to make promises through a text message, he knew what he needed to do. 

"Promise," he said, with as much hope he could muster to allow his little girl something to look forward too. Jay climbed into the truck, glanced towards Hailey, who now was just watching with a smile on her face. "Listen, Charlee, I've gotta go, but I love you a lot, okay." 

"Wuv you daddy," Charlee said, smacking the phone against her lips before the line went dead. 

"What to talk about it?" Hailey asked as Jay started the truck. He knew if he ignored the question that she would ask Mallory, and knowing Mallory, she would tell Hailey everything. That was one of the good things about those two becoming friends, it made Jay talk about how Charlee in a way that would he have kept to himself. 

"Nothin' outside of Charlee having nightmares, and apparently two last night. Enough to make her cry this morning while I held her." Jay shrugged, placing his phone in his pocket before he started to pull out of the parking spot. "I just wanted to make sure she was okay." 

"And she's okay?" Hailey asked while looking over at him. 

"She seemed okay enough to hang up on me without saying bye," Jay chuckled, "I just needed to hear her voice, I guess. I feel like I'm missing a lot of time with her." 

"Then here's the deal," Hailey reached to turn down her radio, "We get this guy, I do the paperwork, and you go do whatever you promised Charlee that you would do." 

"How do you even know I made a promise?" 

Hailey shook her head and tried not to roll her eyes. "Cause you make promises to her than anyone I ever met. So, deal?" 

Jay would take anything to spend a couple of extra hours with his daughter. Even if it meant knowing he would have to do the same for Hailey one day. He needed Charlee more than he realized, and right now, all he wanted was to hold his little girl and listen to her rattle one about anything. 

He glanced over at Hailey and nodded, "Deal." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I have next two chapters almost done, and things are going to start to pick up real fast. 
> 
> You can find over me on tumblr at honeyscoves


	3. She's So Small

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a morning at the playground, what could wrong?

"Pawk," Charlee tugged on Mallory's hand, "pawk." 

"Yes," she chuckled while she kneeled in front of the little girl. She was working on zipping up Charlee's purple fleece jacket. It started to become an impossible task with a toddler who started to swing back and forth and shove her bear in front of Mallory's face. 

"Beaw," Charlee said, shoving it into Mallory's view, "beaw miss daddy." 

She leaned to the side, and it took almost everything in Mallory to tell her to stay still. But this is what she got for allowing Charlee to have almost two and a half donuts. 

"Daddy?" Charlee asked, standing on her tippy toes to look over Mallory's shoulder. "Whewe daddy?" 

Mallory glanced behind her to see nothing while she finished zipping up Charlee's coat. "Your daddy is at work, doing his job to keep you safe." 

"Sawfe?" 

"Yeah, he's keeping me and you and---" Mallory spread her arms as wide as she could, "this whole city safe. That way, you can play on the park every day." 

"He come play?"

"Probably not today, sweetie." 

"Why?" Charlee asked, tears starting to form in her eyes while she hugged her bear. 

Mallory saw past the tears to the gears in Charlee's head. The way her tiny mind was trying to understand the reasoning behind Jay never being around during the day and sometimes at night. She knew the more Charlee grew up in front of their eyes, the more Jay's heart broke over not being there for every little thing. 

"What if you play for a little bit here, and then maybe I can talk your daddy into having lunch with us?" Mallory wiped a single tear off Charlee's face and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Now, go play." 

Charlee sniffled, tilted her head, and watched Mallory pull out her phone before turning on her heels to run towards the playground. 

_Sooooooooo anyway you could meet us for lunch?_

She wasn't sure what Jay had going on, but judging from the call earlier he made to Charlee, he would have to be all in for at least having lunch. Maybe it would also be good for the little girl who hugged the bear too tightly to her chest to climb up the playground structure. The same girl who whispered things into Jay's ears, that was nothing more hot air and little kisses. Mallory had never once told Jay to take some time off, but it was time she finally started advocating for the one person who missed Jay more than her. 

_Depends. I'll see what I can do._

It was better than what she was hoping for, at least. She started to slide her phone into her jacket pocket when another text from Jay showed. 

_Nevermind. Hailey told me it's an order to have lunch with you guys._

_Better not bail on us, Halstead :)_

"Charlee," she hollered and started over towards her. She watched Charlee tilt her head, curls falling in front of her face before she took and smacked into Mallory's thighs. "Your dad is going to have lunch with us." 

Charlee squealed, took off running again, and all Mallory could do was watch her run around the playground with her bear tucked to her chest. 

She sometimes wondered if Jay realized just how much Charlee was the spitting image of him. She was half Savannah with the strawberry-blonde hair and her attitude at times, but that was all Mallory saw in her from her mom. The rest of her was Jay Halstead through and through. She was a smaller version of her dad. Anyone who had met the two of them would not mistake Charlee Halstead for anyone else's daughter than Jay's. 

It was the way Charlee laughed, mimicked the same way her dad would laugh. The short chuckle to the belly laugh that came whenever Jay would blow raspberries on her stomach or tickle her until she was squirming to get away. Charlee was already two and had the biggest heart ever, in the same way, that Jay did. Even if at times he wanted to argue with Mallory about it and tell there was no way he had a bigger heart than his daughter. She was picky about certain things and could be as stubborn as her dad.

How Mallory managed to put up with Jay and Charlee Halstead was beyond her at times. But she would deal with it for a lifetime if it meant keeping them happy. 

It didn't help that both Charlee and Mallory had a soft spot for every animal they saw. This is how Mallory ended up coming home with Woofles almost a month ago. Charlee had fallen in love with the puppy that Mallory's co-worker had, and she had made the mistake of taking Charlee to see the puppies without Jay knowing. Thinking maybe it would be good to see how she reacted around dogs just in case her dad finally caved about getting his daughter one. 

Only Mallory was the one to cave, and Jay became outnumbered the minute he walked through the door that night to see Charlee chasing the puppy down the hall. 

_"You got her a dog?" Jay asked, hanging up his jacket after a long day at work. "A dog? Without me?"_

_"You should've seen her," Mallory's shoulder slumped while she started pleading her case. "She was holding the puppy, hugging it, kissing it---Jay, she was stinkin' cute."_

_"And you couldn't say no?" He laughed in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her._

_"She's spoiled, it's fine," Mallory replied, looking up at him before they turned their attention to Charlee running back down the hallway with the puppy behind her._

Mallory sat on the park bench, watching the strawberry blonde curls pulled back into the shortest pigtails she had ever seen. She didn't mention to Jay earlier on the battle she lost of getting Charlee to wear matching bows or matching clothes. Charlee had picked out a purple and pink one to match her pink shirt and one to match her purple jacket. The same jacket that almost caused Charlee to throw herself onto the ground in a fit when Mallory suggested her blue jacket. 

She didn't know what kind of two-year-old logic it was to wear mix-match clothes without throwing some kind of fit. Mallory had stopped fighting with Charlee the second she cried out for Jay and held her bear too tightly to her chest. Realizing the fight wasn't worth the energy, neither one of them didn't have after a rough night of sleeping.

She pulled out her phone, snapping a quick photo of Charlee running around the swing set with her bear close to her chest to send to Jay. 

_She might pass out before lunch. Those donuts are going to be gone!_

_How many times is that bear gonna be washed?_

Mallory laughed, shaking her head at the fact Jay was more worried about how many times the bear he had given had gone through the washer over the last year and a half, then how his daughter was running off the two donuts she had that morning, or how he didn't know that Charlee had managed to throw another fit right after Jay had left for work. Two fits before ten in the morning was a new record for Charlee.

There were some things that even Mallory wouldn't tell Jay that happened between her and Charlee. Sometimes he did not need to know about every little fit his daughter threw. Over shoes and clothes, to dinosaur chicken nuggets over peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and even the chocolate milk or regular milk fiasco that happened last week. 

She figured they were her little secret between Charlee and her. Just like Jay had his own about being the first one through the door on certain cases and thinking that she didn't know about them. 

The only fits that Jay would know about would be the important ones. The ones where Charlee cried out for him in the middle of the night after waking up from a nightmare, and he wasn't at home. The same nights in which Mallory wished Jay had a different job. One that didn't take time away from Charlee or put him in so much danger. 

"Mal, Mal," Charlee called out, waving her bear in the air to get Mallory's attention. "Wook."

"I'm looking, I'm looking." Mallory pushed herself up from the bench, walking towards the small playground set for the toddlers at Adam's Park. 

The bright red slide standing out against the old green railings was enough to bring Mallory back to her childhood of running across the same playground with her younger sister, Jess. To be young and not a care in the world is exactly what Mallory wanted again. 

Charlee ran towards her. Bright pink converse standing out against the dark brown woodchips of the playground. Pigtails falling to the side of her head, almost near her ears, and curls falling in her face and bows that were holding on by baby hairs at this point. Charlee was trying her hardest to push her curls out of her eyes. Flushed cheeks mixed with running around and the crisp autumn wind whipping against her small body. 

"Hwere," she huffed, stuffing the bear against Mallory's chest. She was off before Mallory had a chance to tell her to be careful. Her small body climbing up the steps and waddling towards the slide. At least she had finally calmed down enough to let go of the bear. 

"Be careful," Mallory hollered just loud enough for Charlee to look back at her as she neared the slide. 

Watching Charlee slide down with her giggles filling the air brought a smile to Mallory's face. She spotted her running around back to the steps and started climbing again. Her hands resting against each step while she climbed up them, and standing up with a wobbly balance before she took off the red slide again. 

"Is she yours?" 

Mallory turned to see a woman in a Blackhawks ballcap and point her head towards the slide where Charlee was waiting to go down. 

"Um---" Mallory focused on Charlee and then looked back at the lady. "Yeah, yeah, she is." 

It wasn't a total lie. She had felt like Charlee's mom from the minute she showed up at Jay's apartment two years ago. They had never talked about what would happen if Charlee ever did call Mallory mom, but it was obvious in the way Jay let Mallory take care of her that he saw her as Charlee's mom. At least that's what she hoped for as she made a mental note to talk to Jay about it sometime soon. 

"She's adorable." The lady beamed at Mallory as she spoke, and it put a warm smile on Mallory's face to know that other people saw how cute Charlee was. She watched Charlee go back down the slide and run to the steps again for the third time. 

"She really is," Mallory said, her smile growing from the way Charlee ran back around. 

"How old is she?" 

Mallory's eyebrows creased together as her focus shifted from Charlee to the lady. "Two," she muttered, but her gaze didn't leave the lady, and she noticed how the lady nodded her heads towards the playground again in a way that didn't sit well with Mallory. 

"She's so small." 

It wasn't a red flag since most people always commented on how Charlee seemed so much smaller for her age then she was supposed to be. She had heard it all. From 'Oh she's two, I thought she was one' or 'she's still in eighteen-month clothes for an almost-three-year-old'. 

Maybe it was the way that lady kept her eyes on Charlee the whole conversation. Never once making any kind of eye contact with Mallory. It was just enough to make her stand on edge. Mallory shifted her attention from the lady back to the playground. She stood on her toes, glancing around the small playground to see Charlee. 

She wasn't there. 

Mallory blinked a couple of times. 

Charlee still wasn't there on the playground. 

There was no small strawberry-blonde pigtails with mix-match bows running around. No pink converse pounding against the woodchips. No bright purple fleece jacket running into her legs. In the small mix of kids on the playground in the middle of the day, Charlee wasn't among them. 

She wasn't there.

Mallory shook her head. Not wanting to believe it. Not wanting to believe that she could possibly be gone. She had to be hiding. Charlee loved playing hide and seek. It was one of her favorite games to play with Jay at home. Maybe she got too excited about meeting her dad that she decided she wanted to play with Mallory. 

"Charlee," Mallory yelled as she started to run towards the slide. "Charlee, this isn't funny to hide. Come out." She leaned over the play structure to look inside of the slide, but it was empty. 

"Charlee," she called out again and dug her phone out of her jacket pocket. Charlee was two. She couldn't have gotten far with her small legs. Mallory ran towards the picnic table, where Charlee sometimes liked to sit when Jay would bring her down. 

"Mal," she heard the toddler's voice yell out. Mallory spun her heels and ran towards the sound. The crying and someone telling her to shut up was all Mallory had to go off of as she sprinted towards them. "Mal, Mal," Charlee shrieked again, her voice carrying over the sound of cars passing by. 

She stopped on the sidewalk, looking both ways as she saw a tear-stained Charlee thrashing in someone's arms. 

"Charlee," Mallory yelled, "Charlee!" 

Charlee was being stuffed into a car before Mallory could cross the road. Red hair whipping in the wind as the person who held Charlee slid in the back seat. 

She was late.

She was too late, and there was nothing she could do. Mallory froze, watching the car speed off, and it was only when someone bumped into her did she bring herself back to what just happened. 

Someone took Charlee. 

Her fingers trembling against the phone and the teddy bear she still held close to her chest. 

* * *

Jay tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. Someone Mallory and Hailey had talked him into having lunch with his daughter. He wasn't sure if it was something that the two of them had planned or a spur of the moment decision Mallory made after what happened this morning. Knowing those two, they must have had it planned. 

Jay pulled his phone out of his jean's pocket while Hailey walked into the convenience store to get some coffee. A smile spread across his face while he flipped through the photos Mallory had sent him earlier. The smeared chocolate across his daughter's face with the silliest grin ever. The next photo of Charlee running across the playground with her bear against her chest. That poor bear had seen better days. He really needed to get a new one for when that finally bit the dust. 

Mallory's name came across his phone. 

Mallory never called him while he was working. The only time they talked when he was working was when he made called them. She always texted him random things throughout the day or at night once she got Charlee from daycare. They had a pact to only call if something was wrong with Charlee, and she needed Jay right then and there. Even if it meant little voicemails of Charlee telling him goodnight, but that was the only time. 

It was mid-day.

An hour and a half before he was supposed to meet them for lunch. 

The phone stopped vibrating when Hailey climbed back into the truck. "What's going on?" 

"Nothing," Jay shook his head, and started to shove his phone back into his pocket. "Mallory called and---"

His phone started vibrating again, and Mallory's name appeared on the screen. 

"How many times has she called?" Hailey asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"This is the second time," Jay said, worry lines creasing across his forehead. 

"Pick it up, Jay." She nodded at him to take it. 

"Hey Mal---"

"Jay, Jay," Mallory's voice cracked through his phone. "Jay," she hiccuped, giving Jay the one sign that she was crying. 

"Mallory, what's wrong?" 

Hailey turned towards him, her eyebrows creasing together as she tried to listen to the conversation before Jay put the phone on speaker. He couldn't understand anything Mallory was saying to him. Her words jumbling together between the sobs cracking through the lines and the hiccups. He needed someone else to hear the words that Mallory was trying to say, in case he heard them wrong. 

"Hey, hey--- I'm going to need you to calm down. I can't understand you at all. Mallory, do you hear me?" He glanced up at Hailey, his lips drawn into a thin line of whatever news Mallory was about to give him. 

Mallory sniffled, took a deep breath and then spoke the words that Jay never thought he would hear. "Someone took Charlee." 

"What?" Jay shook his head, closing his eyes. 

"Mallory," Hailey spoke into the phone, "Tell us again, please." 

"Someone took her." 

Jay's eyes flew open, anger and worry rooted themselves in the pit of his stomach. "Where are you?" 

"Adam's Park," Mallory said through a sob. "Jay---" 

"Stay there, I'm on my way." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know what you think!


End file.
